ON THE JUKEBOX | MOONLIGHT DRIVE | THE DOORS
Posted on April 28, 2015 by Trace
Four brilliant artists made
T H E D O O R S
one of America’s most iconic and influential rock bands.
M o o n l i g h t D r i v e
was written by Morrison, during his halcyon days on a rooftop in Venice Beach L.A, California in 1965. Later, when he happened upon friend and future band member Ray Manzarek, he uttered the memorable lines,
“Let’s swim to the moon, let’s climb through the tide, penetrate the evening that the city sleeps to hide.”
Reportedly Manzarek was awestruck and they decided to form a band. Morrison already had a band name picked out: The Doors.
The band took its name from the title of Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception, which itself was a reference to a William Blake quote: “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.”
“Moonlight Drive” is a song from their second album Strange Days, [pictured below] released in September 1967 and a B-side of “Love Me Two Times”.
Recently we stumbled upon a great Doors doco, if you are also a fan, you must see this one by Tom DiCillo, narrated by Johnny Depp When You’re Strange: A Film about The Doors. The doco uses historic and previously unseen footage of the band to unfold the history of The Doors and its legendary singer Jim Morrison, whom Johnny calls: “One of the most significant frontmen/poets/shaman to ever grace a stage.”
“As a rock ‘n’ roll documentary, or any kind of documentary, for that matter, it simply doesn’t get any better than this,” Johnny told the press last year. “What an honor to have been involved. I am as proud of this as anything I have ever done.”
Using footage shot between the band’s 1965 formation and Morrison’s 1971 death, “When You’re Strange” follows the band from the corridors of UCLA’s film school, where Manzarek and Morrison met, to the stages of sold-out arenas.
“Moonlight Drive” though a conventional blues arrangement, it’s defining feature was its slightly off-beat rhythm, and Robby Krieger’s ‘Bottle-neck’ guitar which creates an eerie sound. Robby said ‘I’ve got an idea for this, something sort of liquid-like.’
A lot of The Doors music came to be like that – water-y. That came from living on the beach. We were actually there, whereas even The Beach Boys, for instance, didn’t really live on the beach.”
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